Hello, When my wife and I went to Europe for a tour one summer, we saw all sorts of old USA cars. But the majority were, of course foreign cars. At our last stop before heading home, was Paris, France. This year’s home court for the Summer Olympic Games. A massive gathering in an already crowded location is pure madness, in anytime during the year, let alone the peak summer season… That, along with the swimming + boating events trying to use the River Seine for the competition… that would be like swim competitions in the Los Angeles River down the flowing canal areas… yikes!!!! The streets back then were not as crowded as it is going to get this summer. It will be a nightmare for sure. We were reluctant on our first stop in London. We could read and understand the underground trolley system, but were not comfortable using those train like forms to get around. We chose those cool black taxi cabs instead of the Underground. But, by the time we got to Paris after a month of European locations, we were seasoned travelers. So, despite my wife taking 4 years of high school French and two years in college, she was puzzled by the directions on the display board underneath the street near our apartment. We looked for a while, decided to see our destination and just assumed the number on the map was going to lead us to the right place in the city. Based on the map with photos of the destinations, we never got lost. The French written directions were ok, if one used common sense in the drawings and locations. So, those years of French classes did or did not pay off? It did not matter. As 20 somethings we just stepped up and made a decision to ride the underground transportation. So, that paid off for us. Jnaki While we got to the underground train under the Eiffel Tower area, as we started walking, the most unusual tour bus came along. My wife told me to take a photo as it goes by the Eiffel Tower so our friends and relatives will identify with the historic Eiffel Tower location and funny activities 35mm color Kodak Ektachrome slide film Asahi Pentax Spotmatic camera, F 1.4 50 mm lens Despite the warm weather in the summer, the bus had A/C. But that glass has the magnifying effect and creates heat on its own. No, we did not ride in that tour bus… It was hot enough walking around, let alone being lab experiment on public exposure... Ha! Ever been in a glass bubble hot rod like the one everyone has seen in magazine photos? Note: A post several weeks ago in the Vintage photos thread: bleach said: "i imagine that this car would have been miserable on hot day. People would have been popping like inside a popcorn machine. Or like this toy." Note 2: One year, I was finishing a photo shoot of a custom car that I had not seen before. It was a local builder and it was very unusual. It was not the famous “bubble top” custom we have all seen in magazines everywhere. This was a So Cal local photo shoot. Yes, it was hot in this inland city and it had to be done on that day due to having space held for me in one of the pre-prepped magazine layouts, and this “custom car.” Normally, I took the photos, spend a couple of days writing my notes into a legible story and place them on a storyboard at my home. Then consulting with my wife’s notes, we coordinated the story to make some sense. Once I finished moving the photos around, they fit the places, had captions on them and were in b/w plus the ever hopeful color slides per page were all ready. Then, I was ready to go to the production area of the magazine headquarters to present them to the editors. So, this one was a pre-approved photo shoot. No one else had the contact information and the owner wanted me to photograph the custom car. It was so hot on that day and the photos took longer than normal due to the unusual custom car and location. So, to my recollection, it was a lowered custom body that looked like a 61 T-Bird, but no one would be able to recognize it as a T-Bird. It had a clear Lexan bubble top similar to the famous one in the above photo. But, this one was a “one-off” single clear dome. No, garnish attachments, but a one piece, clear dome. The steering was done by a stick lever and another lever was in the normal place for the transmission. The gas and brake pedal were custom, but in the standard locations. The owner drove it to a park and we started doing the all around photos. It was a wonder as to how it was made and drove. As the morning rolled on, it was getting hotter by the day and when the car was moved, the top had to be down, so it was hotter inside. After the shots were finished and we were getting packed up, the owner asked me if I wanted to drive the custom car around the parking lot. I just could not say no. But, it was a mistake I realized later. The top had to be down. The stick was awful in controlling left or right. When backing up, there was an excellent all around view and the all around clear view was needed it while inside. The system of using a stick and gas/brake pedal was so odd that I could only go a few feet before I stepped on the brake to stop. It was not a car to drive daily and even a short drive into the entrance of a custom car show would have been “shaky” for anyone. There are no photos of this custom car. I gave the magazine all of the best shots for the storyboard layout. So, those are gone. Then I gave the owner a ton of photos printed/mounted on custom wooden frames and printed several slides, too. But the sad thing was, the magazine decided to not run the story due to the direction of the hot rod roadster/coupe oriented magazine. Trucks and lowered custom cars were in the minority and so, all of the photos, slides, and stuff were given to the sad owner when I told him of the magazine’s decision. Other magazines would not accept the story line, either. So, it laid dormant forever. Now, it is gone forever…or???
The photos you post of Bugatti are impressive. Thank you for sharing them with us who appreciate the finer aspect of automotive design. Unlike the individual who escaped from Vienna.
POP. AKA Pay One Price. Didn't Bob Eubanks (remember him?) do a daily teen dance show from there 196_?
The Jalopy Journal
